Frost

48

Gray did not want to let go. He waited so long for this moment—to show some sort of affection to his comrade. After all the two of them have been through the past few months, they could finally hug each other. The ice mage wanted to live this moment forever, free of any worries. Now that the injecting incident was behind them, the two of them could move on with their lives. He was comfortable, and the warmth that radiated off of Natsu made him feel safe. Natsu rested his head on Gray's shoulder. His eyes were shut, and his breathing was light. Gray ran a hand through the dragon slayer's hair.

He didn't know how much time had passed since he first embraced him, but when Natsu finally pulled away he felt as though it only lasted a mere second. The dragon slayer stared at him, his green eyes wide and full of curiosity. "So . . . can you tell me what it was like?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.  "Being invisible, I mean." Gray blinked a few times before giving him a kind smile.

"Sure, Flame Brain. It's not all that exciting though, so prepare to be bored out of your mind. Not that you have a brain, or anything," the ice mage joked. He received a hard punch to his arm, and he grunted and gritted his teeth.

"You're one to talk! You couldn't even find your way out of the tunnels! You had to let Loke come and get you!" Natsu exclaimed with a laugh at the end of his statements. Gray laughed with him, rubbing his now sore arm. He felt exhausted, and not really doing anything for a while made him like this.

As much as he wanted to sleep at the moment, he knew he couldn't. It would be such a bummer to finally be back, to be able to communicate by talking, and to actually receive hugs from his fellow guild mates, only to go to sleep when the day wasn't even over yet. It made him feel miserable.

And with Natsu smiling brightly at him, sleeping was the last thing he wanted. The dragon slayer's cheeks were slightly flushed. There were dark circles underneath his eyes, and it made Gray realize that Natsu was most likely struggling to stay awake, too. His hair was an absolute mess, like always. His scarf hung loosely around his neck, revealing a part of his collar bone. The ice mage held a hand to Natsu's cheek, rubbing his thumb back and forth, and the dragon slayer furrowed his eyebrows.

"It was quite interesting at first. When I found out, I couldn't see myself in the mirror. I sort of panicked." He heard Natsu snort. Who wouldn't panick if they didn't see their reflection staring back at them while looking in a mirror?

"How ironic!" Natsu exclaimed. The ice mage removed his hand from the dragon slayer's cheek.

"Yeah, it kind of is. Pretty cliche if you ask me, but how else was I going to find out?"

Gray told him everything—like what was going on through his mind at the time, how difficult it was to move objects, how hard it was to even make ice . . . Every little detail seemed to interest Natsu. The dragon slayer couldn't imagine not being able to speak, to use his magic, to move objects. He couldn't imagine what was going on through the ice mage's mind even though he had just described it. Having to figure out what was wrong with you all by yourself, as well as relying on others to bring you back? Being invisible for six months? That was the absolute last thing on his bucket list—it didn't even qualify!

But Gray still smiled while talking about it, and it was astonishing to the dragon slayer. He knew the ice mage was content to be back to normal, but he doesn't think he has ever seen him so joyful. It made a small grin appear on his own lips, and he stared as Gray's blue eyes met with his own.

Gray's talking slowed, and the smile disappeared on his lips, his expression turning more serious. Natsu eventually noticed that the ice mage was leaning into him, his face getting closer and closer to his own. The dragon slayer watched as Gray's blue eyes fell down to his lips, and then they met his once more. When they were just inches from each other, Gray stopped moving. Natsu's mouth sat open in shock, his cheeks flushed slightly and his eyes wide when he realized what was actually happening. When Gray noticed as well, he backed away. He looked extremely embarrassed, and he used his hands to cover his face.

"I-I'm so sorry! I don't know . . . I don't know what I was thinking. I just sort of . . . forgot? I don't-" Gray coughed when he didn't finish his sentence, for he had no good excuse to cover up what had just happened between the two. Natsu, however, was in no better shape.

"No! It's fine! You're okay! I was just . . . I didn't even notice anything! I don't have a brain, remember? Haha! Yeah, I don't really remember. . ." His voice grew quicker and quieter with each word. He scooted away from Gray to give him space. And yet, despite the current awkwardness, the ice mage was panicking.

He couldn't believe he had just stuttered in front of Natsu Dragneel. The guy who would make fun of him for the smallest mistake for years on end! The guy who challenged him to every little fight possible. His biggest rival—and yet the two of them were sitting around each other stuttering because of something that just almost happened. He hated how different it felt, the awkwardness. If this occurred six months before, Gray probably would have received a punch to the face as well as obnoxious laughter coming from Natsu, who would go and share the news with his friends and would tease him whenever he could.

No, Natsu sat only a few inches away from him, his body turned in the other direction, his cheeks bright red, and his eyes wide as he hit himself in the forehead repeatedly—a completely different outcome compared to the one Gray had in mind. There was no teasing involved.

And then he remembered something. While he was invisible, Natsu was arguing with Erza about his feelings for Gray, where the dragon slayer was constantly denying it and the sword mage was trying to disprove his point. So many questions started to sprout in his mind, like whether or not Erza was right and Natsu just didn't want to believe it. If Natsu didn't have feelings for him, did he develop any during the argument and now? What was the dragon slayer currently thinking about? What were his thoughts about Gray during the time period he was gone?

Without even noticing, Gray was staring at said male as he pondered these questions. Natsu could just feel Gray's eyes burning holes into his back. When he slowly turned back towards the ice mage, their eyes immediately locked, and the awkward aura around them skyrocketed. "How about we grab some food at the guild, yeah?" Natsu tried his best not to stutter, his voice slightly shaky. Gray agreed, and the two walked back to the guild hall in an awkward silence.

There was just one more obstacle ahead of the two mages, and that was to break the uneasiness between them.